Smith kicks off Motegi challenge by completing day 1 in 5th

Posted on Oct 09, 2015 by Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team rider Bradley Smith got off to a promising start in the land of the rising sun by completing the opening day of practice in 5th position overall. The 24 year old immediately got to grips with his Yamaha YZR-M1 at the demanding stop and go Twin Ring Motegi Circuit in FP1. After undertaking the initial shakedown laps, he got stuck into the preparation of his race setup for the 24 lap sprint on Sunday. As the chequered flag was waved, the British rider sped across the line with a time of 1’45.888, leaving him in 4th and merely 0.061 behind the second placed bike.

When the afternoon session commenced, Smith continued to make adjustments to his setup and he also evaluated the tyre life of the softer rear compound. In the end, he concluded a total of 17 laps and impressively set a personal best of 1’45.250 which left him in 5th whilst using the harder rear tyre. This performance sees the Briton begin his weekend in Japan positively and he will now be seeking to clinch a strong grid position tomorrow as he aims to finish Motul Grand Prix of Japan in the leading satellite bike position.

Bradley Smith: – Position: 5th – Time  1'45.250 – Laps: 36
“Firstly, I enjoy coming to Motegi because it is always good fun due to the Japanese fans and seeing the amount of passion that they have for MotoGP. With regards to today, things were very positive for us on track. We did a really good job with making the bike as stable as possible which was our main focus today because this is very important here due to the circuit’s hard braking points. In addition, we were able to run a lot of laps on the soft rear tyre and with the modifications we made, I am quite confident that we will have a good pace at the end of the race on Sunday. Overall, I am very pleased as my time put me in 5th, and I am especially happy as I completed that lap whilst I was using the harder rear tyre, so this shows that both compounds are working well. For tomorrow, the main aim is to work more with the softer rear option because I believe that this will be the race choice so we will continue in that direction in order to be able to close Yamaha’s home Grand prix with a strong result.”